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HE SCHOOLS, 



BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE XXIII. ANNI- 
VERSARY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, IN THE CITY OF 
NEW YORK, ON THE 8TH DAY OF MAY, 1839. 






BIT ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, 




Baltimore: 

PRINTED BY MATCHETT & NEILSON, 



1839. 



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A P L E A 



FOR THE 



RESTORATION OF THE SCRIPTURES 

TO THE SCHOOLS, 



Being the substance of an Address delivered at the XXIII, 
anniversary of the American Bible Society, in the city of 
New York, on the Sth day of May, 1839; by the Rev. Robert 
J. Breckinridge, in support of the following resolution, viz: 

Resolved, That the use of the Scriptures as a reading-book in common 
schools, is of such importance, as to deserve immediate and universal en- 
couragement, in all our States and Territories. 

Mr. Breckinridge, observed in submitting the foregoing re- 
solution, that there are certain great principles, certain fundamen- 
tal ideas, which always are, and necessarily must be assumed as 
true, and even indisputable, in every enterprise, system, and or- 
ganization which can exist amongst men. If it were not so, all 
progress would be impossible; and the commonest attempts to 
perform the most pressing duties, might lead only to contention 
and embarrassment. 

Thus, in the very fact of our organization as a society for the 
printing and distribution of the Scriptures, we have assumed as 
undeniable, the great truths, that the Bible is a divine revela- 
tion from God, that it is given for the whole human race, that it 
it is most fit to be received by all, and that it is perfectly adapted 
to produce its intended effects : nay more, that it is our duty to 
make efforts, for the multiplication, the dissemination, and the 
general reception of these Scriptures amongst men; and that our 
present form of action, is one proper and wise mode of perform- 
ing this sacred obligation. But even beyond this, we have from 
the beginning firmly advanced other great axioms of our system. 
For we have agreed that this noble version, shall be the only 
English translation which we, as a body, will print and circulate ; 
and that in every case, but especially in this, we will neither add, 
nor permit, note or comment, on the sacred text. These princi- 



pies constitute this society a Bible society, in opposition to the 
notion of its being a society for making commentaries, glosses, 
or other like things ; they distinguish it as a Christian Bible 
society, in contradistinction from all schemes that would make it 
virtually Jewish by limiting its action to the Old Testament, or 
something little better, in restricting it chiefly or entirely to the 
New ; and they equally mark it out, as a Bible society of Re- 
formed Christians, carrying out their distinctive views and faith, 
in clear distinction, from the papistical doctrines, touching the 
great questions, what is the Word of God ? and how ? to whom ? 
and for what purposes should it be distributed ? 

It had been happy, both in other lands, and in our own, if the 
friends of this great cause had always clearly marked these ob- 
vious truths, and respected the distinctions which flow from 
them. It will be useful to us, now that we are about to take a 
step in advance, and commit ourselves and this institution to a 
new principle, or at the least to a new and most important aspect 
of certain principles, not heretofore so fully developed; to keep 
steadily in our view the great truths from which we start, that 
our warrant, and full justification may be ever before out eyes. 
For that the successful prosecution of our work, and the open- 
ings which Providence spreads successively before our advancing 
steps, should require us to acknowledge these additional truths, or 
force upon us new aspects of duty : — is what has again and again 
occurred to us, and what will hereafter occur in proportion as 
we are attentive to God's dealings, and faithful to them. I un- 
derstand the resolution which has been this moment adopted, in 
regard to the duty imposed on distributors of the Bible to se- 
cure if possible its faithful perusal, also, to cover a case very 
much of this kind. And still more clearly, the one I stand here 
to advocate, has this great advantage; that while it fully accords 
with the whole objects and principles of the society, it opens a 
vast and nearly unexplored field for its exertions. It is the be- 
ginning, as I trust, of a national effort, the first expression of a 
national purpose, to restore in youth the dissevered connexion 
between piety and knowledge, between God and the first search 
of childhood after mental treasures. 

Perhaps the most striking aspect of my duty is, that its per- 
formance should ever have been needful — but especially in this 
country — and at the present moment. From the beginning of 
time, till a period very near to us — and amongst the entire race of 
man, except only Reformed Christians of these latter days ; the 
general principle remotely occupying the base of this subject — 
has been cordially, and universally received and acted on, as of 
paramount importance. Every people, without exception, has 
thought it necessary to teach its religion to its children, as the 
very basis of all other knowledge ; and every nation that has 



been sufficiently advanced to have a written religion, and places 
for the regular instruction of youth in knowledge, has made the 
national religion a national study, in childhood. The sacred 
books of all heathen nations have been known of all, who knew 
any thing whatever. The pages of the Koran, in every age and 
country, have been the first study of every follower of the false 
prophet. The very highest literature of all antiquity is thorough- 
ly impregnated with the popular religion ; so that every Greek 
and Roman youth was made a scholar and a pagan, by the self 
same process. The Hebrew parent, by the most express com- 
mand of God, made his child from its very birth, by every out- 
ward mark and every inward accomplishment ; at home, by the 
way-side, in the school, in the sanctuary, in the halls of justice, 
on the field of battle, and upon the throne itself, — thoroughly 
and intensely a Hebrew. The early Christian church, was in 
no degree less assiduous, in the same devotedness to the exact 
and universal religious instruction of the young. Every corrupt 
and apostate sect which has forsaken or renounced our divine 
Redeemer — and most conspicuously those who have most 
thoroughly and openly rejected the Bible — has instilled each its 
own peculiar heresies, by every means, not excluding their 
schools, into the minds of their children. The leaders of the 
glorious reformation of the sixteenth century, and for two centuries 
and more, all their true followers, received as from God the solemn 
duty, of the public as well as private instruction of the young in 
the word of life. The illustrious spirit of Luther as he drew 
near his rest, in a review of his literary labours, rejoiced the 
most in this, that he had written his book De Servo Arbitrio 
against Erasmus, and had prepared his Small Catechism; a 
performance, which like the similar one of his immortal fellow 
labourer, John Calvin, remains, each, after the lapse of three 
hundred years, respectively the symbol of churches, states, and 
races. Nay, until a period so little remote that many who hear 
me, can recall it, the school house and the church, stood side by 
side, throughout our country ; and the Bible and the Catechism 
constituted, in both, the basis of perpetual instruction. 

It is not my present duty, to trace the causes and the manner 
of the exclusion of the Bible from our schools. It is sufficient 
to indicate, as the chiefest, — the spirit of Popery which every 
where suppresses the Word of God ; the spirit of IndifTerentism, 
which, treats it with total slight; and the spirit of Infidelity, 
which openly rejects it. Other causes, less obvious, have no 
doubt conspired, in the production of the same fatal result ; 
amongst which are perhaps to be ranked as of no small impor- 
tance, the excessive multiplication of school books of inferior 
quality ; a proportionate increase of incompetent and unworthy 
teachers ; and a general disposition to prostitute to unworthy 
ends, that part of the education of youth, which could be turned 



6 

to immediate profit. Nor can it be denied that the system of 
Sabbath school instruction, so valuable initself, has been at least 
an occasion for this great evil ; that the public has been allowed, 
it may be even induced to consider the moral instruction thus 
imparted, a sufficient substitute for that formerly given in the 
week-day schools ; if not indeed for that before received under 
the paternal ropf. 

A general review of the efforts which have been made in out 
day, to restore the Bible to the schools, would occupy far too 
much time, to be now attempted : although this, like the mode 
of its exclusion, is a portion of this great subject, full of inter- 
est and importance. It may be sufficient to state in passing, that 
the minds of Christians overthe whole world have been for some 
years deeply pondering this matter. The Protestant churches 
generally throughout Europe have made a more steadfast resis- 
tance, than ourselves, to the exclusion of the Bible from the 
course of general education ; and are therefore, in this respect, 
generally, in a better condition than ourselves. In England, 
there is no school system of sufficient extent, to deserve the 
name of national; but the institution which has the oversight of 
what are called the National Schools, has introduced the Scrip- 
tures into them. The schools of Scotland, so far as they have 
been under the care of the national church of that kingdom, re- 
main on their ancient model. In Ireland, a systematic attempt 
was recently made by a committee of the British House of Com- 
mons, which in 1825, 6 and 7, carefully investigated the whole 
subject of Irish education; with a view to provide a general and 
thorough system of popular instruction. The result is given m 
nine reports, which together contain considerably more than 
three thousand printed pages in folio ; and the sum of all is, that 
the most ignorant and illiterate of all civilized states, absolutely 
repudiated by the high dignitaries of the papal church, every 
system of public, nay even of gratuitous instruction, which 
should not as a starting point, reject the Bible, and admit the 
dogmas of Popery. As it regards our own country, the only 
successful effort of a general kind with which I am acquainted 
has been lately made in the State of Maryland ; where the ad- 
mirable society which I represent this day, are now in the midst 
,of an attempt; which has been attended with the most cheering 
success.* In the course of that movement two facts of great 

•Resolutions presented by the Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge and ^unani- 
mously adopted by the Board of Managers of the Maryland State Bible 
Society at their regular monthly meeting at the Depository, on 1 hursday, 

the i l ^R^hS!VhRt this Board has learned through the monthly report of 
the Corresponding Secretary, with devout gratitude to Almighty God that 
the Bible has been introduced by the proper authorities, into the Public 
Schools of the citv of Baltimore, as one of their regular reading books. 



importance in themselves, and strongly illustrative of the past 
and present spirit of the country, have been fully established. 
The first is, that the public mind is more thoroughly prepared 
for this great reform, and all the sources of public influence and 
authority much more accessible in regard to it, than the most 
sanguine had supposed ; that is, God has prepared the work to 
our hands, before we had faith and zeal to undertake it. The 
second fact is, that the more pretending the schools are, the more 
completely is God excluded from them, and the more decided is 
the opposition to the introduction of the Bible; while many of 
the humblest sort have all along kept the Scriptures in them : 
that is, the richest sort of our people, in this, as in many other 
respects, have been amongst the most of all indifferent to God, 
and removed from an evangelical influence. It is an item in 
this hasty outline, too significant and too pleasing to be omitted, 
that all our Christian missionaries, it is believed without excep- 
tion, have made the Bible the principal class book in every 
school established by them. 

Let me now present in a more direct form some of the great 
considerations which decide our duty on the subject before us. In 
doing this I shall separate such as more particularly regard the 
individual aspect of the question, from those which may be con- 
sidered as pertaining more properly to its social character. And 
in presenting both views, the occasion admonishes me, rather to 
make suggestions, than to attempt an argument. 

It may be observed then, as the first axiom of every indi- 
vidual consideration of this subject, that religion is the most 
imperative necessity of the human soul. No people have ever 
been without the elements of a regular system of religious faith; 
nor can as many single persons, be computed in any age or na- 
tion, who are destitute of the religious sentiment, as there can be 
of persons destitute of reason, of speech, of a perfect human 
form. So that man is as essentially a religious, as he is. a ration- 
al, a speaking, or even a defined being at all.. It is equally in- 
dubitable, that this necessity of the soul, is developed as early as 
any other want of it ; and it is evolved with a steadiness, and 
intensity equal to any other. Upon what other principle are we 
to account for the horrible excesses, and the inconceivable follies 
of the human race, 'in connexion with this solemn and all-per- 
vading sentiment of our spiritual dependence, this ever press- 

2. "That this Board records with thankfulness and deep humility its 
sense of the great honor put on them by the Lord, in having used their 
feeble agency in the work which has had so speedy and happy an issue. 

3. "That we find in this affecting token of divine favor, a great en- 
couragement to proceed with renewed vigor in the general work com- 
mitted to us : and more especially, in the important business of restoring 
the Bible as a class book to all the schools of our commonwealth. 5 * 



8 

ing sense of our spiritual necessities ? And what conceiveable 
excuse can be pleaded, for not providing for this necessity from 
the first moment of its developement ? For not directing this 
sentiment, by an instruction as ceaseless as its own activity? 
For not sustaining and moulding this confiding and absorbing im- 
pulse by the power and the wisdom, which God has made mani- 
fest, to this very end? 
J Let it be farther considered, that there are but two possible 
foundations, upon one or other of which, all religion must re- 
pose. One is authority ; the other conviction. The former, 
professing to emanate from the throne of God, and to be per- 
petuated in a manner always supernatural, sustains its preten- 
sions by unceasing miracles, and appears before men only to 
state its claims, and receive unqualified obedience to its behests. 
To hear, to believe, and to obey, are in its view the sole duties 
of mankind ; while to reason, to investigate, to compare, to en- 
quire, to analyze, are all alike rebellious against its sacred char- 
acter. On the other hand, the religion of conviction, recognizing 
God as its author, and the present blessedness and eternal glory 
of man, as its immediate ends, throws open the heart, the mind, 
and the conscience to its sweet and ennobling influences. It 
appeals constantly to the understanding ; it pleads for nothing 
more earnestly, than for the most ample, thorough and mature 
consideration ; it asks for dominion over the affections, the con- 
science, the intellect, only when that dominion shall have been 
conceded by a willing, an enlightened, a convinced spirit. This 
is our religion. This Bible is at once its sacred repository, and 
the great instrument of its propagation. Why then shall we 
withdraw it from the very seats of knowledge ? Why withhold 
it from the active and enquiring spirit of childhood? Our religion 
is based on knowledge, founded in liberty, approved by con- 
science. Let us act as if we felt this to be true. 

In the general education of youth, we commit a great mistake 
as to what education really is ; and in deciding who are educa- 
ted, fall into a fatal error. To omit, in education, all moral 
training— is to train imperfectly for lime, and not at all for eterni- 
ty. It is, indeed, to neglect the man himself, and train some of 
his inferior powers. No man is or can be educated, whose 
moral faculties, have not been adequately trained ; and if they 
have been mistaught, he has been enslaved, not educated ; de- 
graded not enlightened. — Now it so happens, that amongst us, 
the case is so presented, by reason of a thousand concurring cir- 
cumstances, that no adequate moral instruction can be furnished 
generally in our public schools ; unless the Bible itself be put 
into the hands of the pupils. So that we are shut up to the ne- 
cessity, of rejecting from public education all true discipline 
and instruction, of the better and more urgent part of our being ; 
or of using for those purposes, the best and greatest and fittest 



of means, the teacher of all teachers, the very word of God Him- 
self. Blessed alternative; which forces a people panting to b* 
taught, to remain in ignorance, or learn of God! 

For if we restrict our views of education so narrowly as to 
embrace in its scope, only that which is purely mental ; no ab- 
surdity can be more audacious than to reject the Bible, even 
from such a plan. Is it of use to know what we are, what 
we can be, what we have been ? To know how we can be and 
achieve whatever is most excellent? Is it a part of instruction 
to set before us, the highest exhibitions of whatever is great 
and striking in the past ? The greatness of virtue, the greatness 
of passion, of achievement, of effort, of transcendant civilization, 
of unparalleled crime ? Well, what is the Bible? It is amongst 
other things, the record, the safest, often the only record of 
the largest, the longest, the most striking part of the history 
of genius, of knowledge, of sublime adventure, of all-glorious 
success, — yea of man himself! It is the text book, out of which 
to unriddle the great mystery of God's providenee, in the gov- 
ernment of the world ! The greatest of all poets, philosophers, 
orators, moralists, lawgivers, rulers and conquerors, who t have 
adorned those long annals which cover two-thirds of the whole 
duration of human existence here below ; these are the men who 
have written this book ! It contains their legacy of wisdom and 
instruction, to generations of generations ! A legacy so vast and 
so enduring, that one single man, and he the beginner of the 
book, has bestowed in a few brief pages, the elements of civiliza- 
tion, of organized society, of law, of morals, and of religion 
upon every age that has succeeded him ; and stamped the impress 
of his mind, upon the whole human race ! Why, this book, 
which is the sum and substance of all literature more ancient 
than the Greek, is the substratum also of whatever exists in 
our modern tongues. The two great protestant translations of 
the Bible, the Germanic and our own, formed, in truth, the two 
languages ; and they reign over them still when centuries have 
passed, the highest classic respectively in each. In sober verity 
this book is not only the book of God, but also the book of 
the human race. So that to reject it is at once to be separated 
from the Lord and from enlightened man ! 

Let us turn for a moment to the social aspect of this question. 
As there are but two principles on which religion can repose, so 
also there are but two, on which the social state can be perpetua- 
ted amongst men. Organized society, in any supportable, or 
even possible form, can be sustained only in one of two modes. 
The first method limits the numbers who take part in the pub- 
lic authority or control, to those who are presumed to be capable 
of these functions : increasing or reducing the amount, as ex- 
perience shall suggest, or necessity inforce. Upon this prin- 
2 



10 

ciple the great bulk of human institutions have been constructed ; 
and so simple is it, and so deeply seated in the nature of the 
case, that the mass of mankind has been generally unable, or 
unwilling (and the distinction is immaterial to the argument) — 
to prevent their own disfranchisement, and to arrest the tendency 
of power to accumulate in a few, often in a single will. We can- 
not be too profoundly sensible, that in the long run, power not 
only should not, but cannot be exercised by those unfit to wield 
it; and that all attempts to violate this necessity, entail the de- 
struction of society itself. The second method, proceeds on the 
assumption that the whole society is endowed with this capacity ; 
and that, in the particular case, all are, or all can be prepared to 
take part in every exercise of public authority. It is on this se- 
cond principle, that all our political institutions are founded. Our 
great republic, and all our free and sovereign commonwealths, 
have been frankly periled upon this great and stirring truth, that 
man is capable of self-government. Not man every where ; for 
history would contradict us. Not man, embruted and demora- 
lized ; for our previous reasonings show this to be absurd. Not 
man generically, embracing women and children, idiots and 
slaves; for this subverts the very order of nature. But general- 
ly the truth, that man, enlightened, civilized, and free, is the 
safest depository of all ultimate authority ; and the wisest dispen- 
ser of so much as the exigencies of society require to be parcel- 
ed out, for common use. If this be not true, our country is un- 
done. If it be true, the people must nevertheless be sustained 
in that condition, which we call enlightened, civilized and free. 
But I believe no reflecting man, will hesitate to admit, that of 
all influences which affect the character, the prosperity, the du- 
ration, the glory and the usefulness of nations — moral influences 
are, incomparably the most controling. And of that immense 
class of influences, which might, in a large sense, be called 
moral, the most important and enduring, are beyond all doubt, 
those which are strictly religious. Is it too much to assert, that 
the influence of a national religion, is greater upon national char- 
acter, than all other influences combined ? Is it going too far to 
declare, that the destinies of states have been more deeply affec 
ted by their religious faith, than by all other circumstances ? The 
very history of mankind, is essentially and chiefly, a history of 
religious ideas and religious developements. The great intel- 
lects of all ages, have comprehended this truth ; and though they 
differed about what religion is, or should be, yet they felt and 
saw, that to the world, it is in fact, every thing. In every na- 
tion, before these latter days of scoffing, the entire mass of men, 
though they saw not, felt the same truth ; and hence, the ve- 
hement opposition in them all, to every change in their national 
faith. The sentiment uttered on this platform to-day, by the 



11 

chief magistrate of this commonwealth,* "That without the 
Bible this republic would never have existed ;" is as just, as it is 
emphatic. And I solemnly insist upon this inference, from that 
truth, that without the Bible this republic cannot continue. For 
the general principle contended for, has a most peculiar applica- 
tion to ourselves. Our institutions belong to an advanced con- 
dition of society ; they can be sustained only by a community, 
whose moral condition is as peculiar and as advanced, as their 
social system. This Bible contains the religion of this nation. 
This Bible which alone is able to prepare our children for virtu- 
ous and enlightened liberty ; which contains the sanction of our 
Creator to the principles of our polity, and throws the sacred- 
ness of religion around the simple, upright, humane and free 
spirit of our institutions ; this Bible which is of value to us, 
equal to the value of liberty and independence, merely because 
it contains our religion, and which has besides this inappreciable 
worth, that its religion is true and divine, and the only religion 
that is, either the one or the other ; this Bible which will perpetu- 
ate our glory, if that can be done at all, — and if it cannot will 
prepare our posterity to be and to do in the midst of all calami- 
ties, whatever becomes the worthy descendants of our glorious 
ancestors ; this treasure of all treasures, we dishonor and defile, 
by a deliberate act of national rejection ! 

No truth is more clearly established by the whole course of 
history, than that there is a wise and holy providence continual- 
ly exerted over the nations of the earth. They rise, and flourish, 
and pass away under the eye, and by the purpose of him, who 
in the developement of his sublime proposals, will not allow 
them to abide in strength which would be used to his dishon- 
our ; and who in pity to suffering man, will not permit the prin- 
ciples of evil to consolidate their force, and accumulate through 
successive ages, irresistible means to do wrong. Without the 
blessing and favour of God, no nation can stand, no people en- 
dure. Alas ! how multiplied, and how sad, are the evidences 
of this truth ! And how copiously has he taught us, that his 
blessing is to be expected only by the grateful and the obedient; 
and that his favour is bestowed only as we walk in the' ways 
directed by himself, and towards the ends which he proposes in 
his all pervading goodness ! But the revelation of his will; is 
contained most plainly, if not alone, in this blessed volume,' 
which we dishonour by a great public act; and the promises of 
his favour and protection, are written in those pages, which he 
has so urged, persuaded, commanded us to make the light of 
life, in every condition, every age, every relation and every of- 
fice, through which his providence may guide us ! — Oh ! bless-- 
ed is that people, whose God, is the Lord ! 

* Governor Seward of New York. 



12 

It is not to be supposed, that such an event as the exclusion 
of the Word of God from popular education, could extensively 
occur, or continue for a considerable time without furnishing 
for itself, many pretexts, by which even good men might be be- 
guiled : nor that such a calamity could be removed, wit&out se- 
rious resistance, from many quarters. Several objections to the 
restoration of the scriptures to the schools, are so often urged, 
by persons deserving to be heard, that it seems necessary briefly 
to state and answer them. 

Amongst these the most frequent, perhaps, are urged against 
the scriptures themselves ; which it is alleged, are in many par- 
ticulars, far above the comprehension of children and youth ; and 
which are moreover so often disfigured by a certain plainness of 
expression, as to be unsuitable for promiscuous, or even public 
reading, before the young. To this, the first reply may well be, 
that God who created us, and who perfectly knows us, has 
judged otherwise ; and that he made the volume of his word 
such as we have it, and has added the most express and empha- 
tic commands, that it be early, constantly, publicly, promiscu- 
ously read. To all this he has joined the most precise assuran- 
ces, that exact obedience to this precept, will have no other ten- 
dency, than to make us wise and pure here below, and blessed 
beyond conception, forever ; that all manner of intercourse with 
him, and all communion with his holy word are most pure and 
most profitable : and that all contrary suppositions, are highly 
offensive to him, and full of dishonour to his infinite being. — As 
a second reply, it may be stated, with equal truth, that all ex- 
perience proves the objection to be entirely mistaken. For of 
all mankind, the wisest, the purest, the best, were selected to 
write this sacred volume ; and in all ages, the objectors them- 
selves shall say, if this has not been eminently the character of 
those who have the^earliest, the most thoroughly, and the most 
sincerely pondered, mastered, embibed, and rejoiced in its pre- 
cious contents? — But as a final answer, it is to be considered, that 
if the objection have any weight, it will lie not only against the 
early and promiscuous study of the Bible ; but also in a funda 
mental manner, first against the Christian religion itself, and se- 
condly against all religion whatsoever — as being in itself too ob- 
scure for profitable study, and too immodest for public statement. 
$*or there are multitudes of truths which adult years do not un- 
ravel more than the simplicity of childhood ; yea of truths which 
are the most vital in Christianity. And as religion in its largest 
sense, if it be true and profitable at all, must teach us what God 
is, and what he requires of us ; it is manifest that an immense 
portion of it, treating of God, must be more or less inscrutable, 
and revealed merely as truths to be believed ; while still larger 
portions, treating of duties, of sins, and of divine sanctions, touch- 
ing both, must be always subject to such cavils, as that now 
confuted. 



13 

A second objection, which seems to be urged out of a spirit 
of amiable solicitude for the Bible itself; would exclude it from 
the course of systematic education, lest a too great familiarity 
with it, in early life, should disparage religion itself in our sub- 
sequent regards. This conceit is founded, in total ignorance of 
the human heart ; and they who utter it overlook one of the 
firmest and most unalterable laws of our moral being. The ob- 
jects which we cherish most fondly and mostly steadfastly, are 
those which first occupied our early and ardent thoughts. The 
spirit cherishes a kind of immortal gratitude, for that which 
made it first acquainted with itself, and revealed to it, all its 
strength. Our earliest associations are our most enduring ones. 
Our first friendships, are not only our sweetest — but as one by 
one they fail and pass away, we learn with surprised grief — 
that they are friendships which cannot be replaced. We make 
new friends, valued, dear, perhaps even more deserving ; but 
alas ! they are those we trusted first in childhood ; not those 
whose images grew into the substance of our hearts. The deep- 
est feelings of the human breast have been linked by God, in 
adamantine fetters, with the strong impressions and vivid re- 
membrances, of our early years. The objects of that period, 
are the sacred objects of life ; and the heart will not endure to 
have the meanest of them invested with less than the costliest 
of its treasures. Oh ! that we could bind the early and tender 
affections, of the whole people, to the name of Christ, to the throne 
of God ! Oh ! that this fatal familiarity, with divine truth, were 
the universal heritage of the children of our country ! — 

There are those who make it a third objection, to restoring 
the Bible to the schools, that we have reason to dread great 
strifes, and permanent division amongst the friends of educa- 
tion, if not of religion itself, by pursuing this enterprize. It is 
to be feared, that many who call themselves the friends of edu- 
ation, are totally opposed to all religious influence, either in 
the school or the community ; and there is too much reason to 
suppose, that plans are already extensively matured, whose suc- 
cess will exclude forever all moral instruction from the course 
of popular education. This branch of this great subject needs, 
and must receive, first or last, a thorough sifting. But this, 
is not the occasion. I will at present merely say, that manifest- 
ly, there can be no union of effort, between those friends of edu- 
cation who exclude from their system all moral training, and 
those who make conscience of taking the Bible to school with 
them ; and the sooner the question is made between them at the 
bar of the public, the better for the country : for the question in- 
volved is no less than this, whether the education of a religious 
people, shall be subjected to an infidel or a Christian control 
As it relates to the true friends of the Bible, there can be no cause* 
nor even occasion of strife, here. If there be one single point> 



14 

in which all true Christians can unite — it surely is this, that the 
word of God, should be given to the human race, and be receiv- 
ed by it. Or if this may not be, it is the strongest possible 
proof, that there must be some inherent, or some providential 
hindrance, to all united action, amongst those who are earnestly 
contending for the same general object. This I do not believe. 
We shall find the Christians of this country, united, not divided 
by the present proposition ; which while it may separate the 
friends of the Bible more widely from its enemies, will bind them 
more firmly to each other. For the rest — strifes and devisions, 
are the price we pay, for all that is precious in a sinful world. 
They can be no where better met, than under the shadow of the 
cross ; no standard is more worthy to endure them under, than 
the banner of divine truth ; no object can be set before us, for 
which we might better suffer them, than the charter of salvation. 

Beloved brethren, friends of the Bible, and of the Lord Jesus, 
this is the instrument which God himself has provided, with 
which to subdue the earth unto himself, and triumph over sin 
and hell. Nothing can stand before a weapon whose edge has 
been tempered in heaven. It is our part to use this great weapon 
of our sacred warfare, this sword of the spirit of God — which 
we know to be, through him, mighty to pull down every strong 
hold of iniquity; to use it, as men who combat, not with flesh 
and blood, but with principalities and powers ; yea as men who 
fight the good fight of faith, under the eye and guidance of Him, 
who has long ago openly triumphed over our stoutest enemies, 
and led captivity itself captive. 

And why should doubts arise in our minds ; or our faith or 
courage, for a moment, fail us ? What has not the past witness- 
ed ? What victories of grace and redeeming love, has it not re- 
corded •? Let long history repeat. Time would utterly fail us, to 
speak of the triumphs of this blessed volume, in great antiquity ; 
its triumphs while it was itself incomplete ; the triumphs of all, 
even its smallest parts — each adding trophy upon trophy, as 
proofs of its own title, to be added to the portions that had come 
from the skies before it. How glorious, was its career through- 
out all the east — the great Shemite age — the early manhood of 
the world ! — Then in the mighty transition age of the Greeks — 
Egypt and Asia surrendering civilization to Europe — Shem trans- 
ferring the golden sceptre to Japhet — the light of the world only 
chased away the night, before the advancing radiance of the light 
from above ! — Then came the mighty Caesars victorious over all 
besides ; and they, and Rome itself, subdued by three centuries 
of meek endurance, and uncomplaining martyrdom, sat down also 
at the feet of Jesus ! — Its next trophies came from fierce barbari- 
ans, subdued by empires and by armies, rather than by single men ; 
invading millions, the shadow of whose banners obscured the 
Roman world — as they descended like successive floods, over- 



15 

whelming every seat of civilization ; savages who but for the 
the Bible, had sealed the doom of man. — Greater perhaps than all 
past, its achievements during the long night of the middle ages ; 
that time and times, and the dividing of time, when all open 
sacrifice of praise seemed lost, and the weeping and bleeding 
church sat desolate in the great moral wilderness, listening in si- 
lence to the only voice that dared speak truth or utter comfort. 
Here is that voice ; meek, but undismayed, as in those centuries 
of despair. Here are those witnesses ; ready to speak, and die, 
and live again, as when the gloomiest sackcloth covered them. — 
But God heard their testimony, when man was deaf to their en- 
treaties ; and God restored again, as from the dead, his perse- 
cuted and corrupted church. The Reformation was in the strict- 
est sense, accomplished by the Bible ; and its great fruits, were 
the restoration of the Bible with its knowledge, liberty and righ- 
teousness to man. — Similar were the fruits of what men strangely 
call the great Rebellion of England ; but which was in fact a 
rebellion to God and against iniquity ; which has, until now, ex- 
erted so great an influence, over all the interests of the human 
race ; and in the midst, and by the means, and through the 
agents and influences of which, the Bible had its golden age in 
England. — And last of all, amongst ourselves — amidst all the 
blessings we enjoy, and all the efforts we are making, — what 
Christian does not admit, that all, all are the fruits of the bless- 
ed word of God ; of that word believed, obeyed, received into 
our hearts, and held forth in our lives ! 

And all these great successes, which the past records ; all 
these victories which our eyes behold, are proofs to us, as from 
God himself — of what we might still achieve by the same living 
word. Let us not fear ; let us not faint. Give us but the Word 
of God, and scope to spread and teach it ; all else is sure. Let 
darkness revisit the earth ; let error, ignorance, and superstition 
return; let the defeated enemies of truth and light, come forth 
and rule ; set up your tyrants in the state, your bigots over the 
church ; establish falsehood by the law, corrupt the ministers 
of truth, and burn once more its martyrs at the stake. Do this, 
and more ; twice already, since Jesus bled, has it been done 
throughout the earth; yea done for long and bloody ages. And 
yet again, we look that such things shall be ; for so God speaks. 
What then ? Give us but the Bible, and we will purge your 
priesthood, dethrone your tyrants, defeat your bigots, put shame 
on error, and make again the martyr's blood, the church's seed ! 
Give us the Bible — the Bible without note or comment — the 
Bible as God gave it ! and we will with this alone, by God's in- 
dwelling grace, defy death and hell, and for the third time con- 
quer the world for Christ ! 



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